Soaring the Schwäbische Alb

I don’t even know where to begin to describe last weekend. It was quite an experience.

I went soaring.

This was with a group which used to be associated with the University of Tübingen, which is still loosely affiliated in name: Aka-Flieg Tübingen. They offered an introductory soaring weekend at their airport on top of Übersberg.

We went up Friday night where we grilled, talked about flying (in german), and drank some beers.

I don’t think life gets much better than that.

Well, unless you toss actually flying in there too. The weather was variable, but we headed down to the other side of the field mid morning and set up camp for the day.

The gliders would be launched from a rope attached to a 280 Hp winch at the opposite end of the field. While 280 Hp doesn’t sound like much, consider a Cessna 172 (plane I normally fly) has 180 hp and weighs twice as much. For the gliders, this leads to rocket-like takeoffs.

In all, I got to fly twice on Saturday and twice more on Sunday, between dodging rain showers and playing rounds of soccer (lasting only as long as the gliders were aloft)

Soaring is definitely a different type of flying than what I am used to. First of all, the lack of motor makes things a lot quieter. Conveniently, the controls work the same, which leaves my brain free to track down the thermals crucial to staying aloft. Definitely a great experience, and I’ll probably try to get back in the air again while here in Germany.